...The script was rediscovered last year when Stevens found an unmarked folder in Galton's cellar and asked Malcolm Chapman, a comedy historian who had been collating the archives, what it was. When he was told, said Stevens, he "dropped it on the floor. I couldn't quite process what Malcolm was saying"...

Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy classic Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, it made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Galton and Simpson on one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. But 20 episodes of the show are missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly sixty years ago. Now, five of those episodes have been lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, featuring a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.

Tonight's episode: The Matador. Tony uses Sid's travel agency to book a holiday in Spain, little knowing that Sid also runs a bullfighting business....

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score newly recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the show stars Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian and Susy Kane. The Matador was last broadcast in October 1955.

Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy classic Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, it made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Galton and Simpson on one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. But 20 episodes of the show are missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly sixty years ago. Now, five of those episodes have been lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, featuring a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.

Tonight's episode: The Matador. Tony uses Sid's travel agency to book a holiday in Spain, little knowing that Sid also runs a bullfighting business....

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score newly recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the show stars Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian and Susy Kane. The Matador was last broadcast in October 1955.

I guess it all started for me sometime around Christmas 1967 and now, goodness me, it's.........2018 and over fifty years later.No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.Neil from The Young Ones